Private Equity CEO Accelerates Exit

CHALLENGE

While gearing up for exit, a private equity-owned manufacturer faced a leadership challenge … the long-time CEO’s announcement of his retirement. Keenly aware that the announcement could possibly derail the exit, the PE owners needed to demonstrate strong, stable leadership to attract a viable buyer.

Their decision? Promote the CFO to president. Entirely competent and capable, the former CFO still faced transition challenges … both personally and professionally.

Personally, as the self-proclaimed “numbers guy,” the new president needed to change his mindset from “profitability” to “growth” while sharpening his communication skills to engage the team. In addition, he was now tasked with being the “face” of the company throughout the sales process – an entirely new role for him.

Professionally, a new hierarchy had to be established between the new president, his former peers and a newly transitioned CFO. The leadership team also needed to change its long-standing focus on profit, to a focus on growth opportunities leveraging new technologies, new channels and new markets. This was a complex, high-stakes transition. Timelines were tight and failure was not an option.

ACTIONS

Established leader confidence and credibility by developing and implementing an internal and external communications plan with one-on-one coaching checkpoints

Secured the president in his new role by facilitating a “new leader assimilation” workshop that seeded messaging and clarified roles and expectations – leaving no questions unanswered

Aligned team around critical growth initiatives and empowered them to make trade-offs to rank priorities

Accelerated team confidence and momentum by introducing an “early wins” process, driving tangible results on internal issues that had languished in the past, such as new product development strategy, service improvements and key customer plans

Re-energized the leadership team by facilitating a role sort process to redefine, develop and assign roles

RESULTS

The new president’s transition was highly successful… gaining acceptance by the executive leadership team, board members and, ultimately, the prospective buyer. A cohesive leadership team was re-energized and effectively produced the following results:

Business sold within six months of the new president’s appointment

Sale transpired one year sooner than expected

Valuation $700 million greater than original investment – equaling a 4x ROI for the investors

President promoted to CEO (upon previous CEO’s retirement) nine months into new ownership

Business results remain strong with new product innovation driving growth

Partner

Former CEO, President, COO, and CTO in public and private equity backed companies. CEO at On Campus Marketing, President at Accuity, COO at GAIN Capital, CTO at Thomson Financial. Strong track record as a leader in complex transitions in information, media, and retail businesses with emphasis on digital transformations and M&A integration. BS University of Dayton; MBA University of Maryland.

George Olcott, PhD

Advisor

Current non-executive director of Denso Corporation and Hitachi Chemical and Affiliate Professor at the Department of Business and Commerce at Keio University. He was formerly Managing Director, Head of Equity Capital Markets for UBS Warburg in Tokyo. Previous roles at Shell and Swire. Author of “Conflict and Change: Foreign Ownership and the Japanese Firm.” Fluent in Japanese. Oxford undergraduate, INSEAD MBA, PhD from Cambridge.

Roger Neill

Advisor

CEO/Managing Partner of Lintas Australia, Synectics Corporation, Center for Creativity – City University London. Helped Sam Wanamaker re-build Shakespeare’s Globe in London. Started his working life as a professional rock musician. Roger is one of the world’s thought leaders on innovation and creativity. Based in London, UK, he writes, speaks and conducts masterclasses and workshops around the world and is a principal of Per Diem Consulting.

Harry Kangis

Advisor

President of P&G’s Millstone gourmet coffee subsidiary, GM of the Home Entertainment Network, VP Marketing for Kenner Toys and COO for Nutrition Technology Corp. A 25+ year marketing and general management veteran, who has managed a broad range of challenges from mature consumer packaged goods brands to a wide variety of innovative service and product start-ups and is a principal of One Page Solutions. BA Williams; MBA Wharton.

Rob Gregory

Advisor

CEO with an unusual mix of senior experience in both the private and public sectors and an extraordinary record of success managing both large profitable companies and turnaround situations. As President of VF Corporation, he and his team tripled its sales to $3B and grew its profit 500%+ to turn it into the largest and most profitable publicly held apparel company in the world at that time. Served on the boards of over a dozen companies including Gitano, London Fog, Promus Hotels, Frisby International and USF&G. BA Wofford; law degree U. South Carolina; AMP Harvard.

Bill Berman, PhD

Advisor

A clinical and consulting psychologist, worked with a number of public and private companies, including Xerox, Unilever, Clinical Communications Group, Diageo, and Kaiser-Permanente. He is co-author of 3 books and over 50 articles on a variety of psychology and business topics. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association, board-certified by the American Board of Professional Psychology, has taught at Cornell Medical College and Fordham University and is a principal of Berman Leadership Development. AB Harvard; PhD Yale.

Tony Botterill

Partner

Partners with executives to drive change across a range of business sectors, supporting them through high-stakes transitions. Tony supports leaders and teams in onboardings, new team start-ups, team integration, major project performance and trouble-shooting, leveraging dozens of client engagements – including BP, Petrofac, Talisman Sinopec, HBOS, Reuters, Cisco Systems and Lloyds Banking Group.

Thomas Yang

Partner

Formerly President, International Callaway, SVP International Starbucks, senior leadership positions internationally with Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, and Clorox. Board of Advisors University of San Diego Business School. Board of Governors of Gemological Institute of America. BS University of Colorado; Masters Degree for the American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird).

Susanne Pennella

Partner

An Austrian native with 20+ years of Management, Human Resource and Legal experience in Europe and the United States. Her rare ability to think cross-functionally as well as cross-culturally led to outstanding successes at Procter & Gamble in both brand management and human resources. Susanne was also a Law Professor and Assistant District Attorney. Doctorate in Law, Salzburg University.

Partner

Operating executive with experience in Europe and Asia. Leadership roles at Pearson, including Managing Director UK, Managing Director Europe and Strategy-International. Executive positions for Spalding Evenflo in Asia Pacific and Patientline in the UK. Non-executive director of Hubbub and sits on the appeal board of the children’s charity Buttle UK. Author of The Leadership Book and a Cambridge Fellow in Science & Policy.

Partner

Former CEO of Information Resources, Broderbund Software and Advo. Senior line positions at Kraft General Foods including SVP of Sales and President of Grocery Products, and Procter & Gamble. Throughout his career, Joe has driven dramatic increases in revenue, profitability and value for companies he has served on the boards of, run, worked in and consulted to. BA Duke; MBA Wharton.

Managing Partner

Former CEO of three private equity backed companies. Group President of Emerging Markets at LexisNexis after long career at Dun & Bradstreet. Proven transformational CEO, board member, consultant and coach with a strong track record supporting leaders and teams through complex transitions. Extensive experience in Americas, Europe and Asia. BA Williams College; MBA University of Virginia.

Chairman & Founder

Led the revolution in how people start new jobs. Prior to founding PrimeGenesis, George served as chief executive of J.D. Power’s Power Information Network spin off and in general management, marketing and sales at Coca-Cola in Europe and Asia, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Principal of CEO Connection and contributes a weekly column to Forbes.com, The New Leader’s Playbook. AB Harvard; MBA Wharton.